Leprino Meals and its reclusive billionaire CEO don’t have to pay $900 million to 2 heirs, a Denver jury dominated Friday.
The corporate, CEO James Leprino and two of Leprino’s daughters didn’t breach their fiduciary obligation or wrongfully withhold data from two of Leprino’s nieces, the jury determined.
The jury of three males and three ladies deliberated for lower than three hours Friday morning earlier than reaching their verdict. They then notified Choose Stephanie Scoville’s clerk, who advised the decide at 11:25 a.m. Scoville learn the decision aloud at 11:45 a.m.
“This verdict will probably be deeply felt by many. The events have invested rather a lot on this case,” Scoville advised the courtroom earlier than studying the decision, warning them in opposition to breaking decorum.
James Leprino, an 84-year-old who has attended daily of the trial in a wheelchair, stood from his chair after the decision was learn and hugged supporters and his attorneys. Afterward, he stood once more to take a photograph along with his relations and legal professionals exterior the courtroom.
Attorneys for Leprino Meals and James Leprino declined to touch upon the decision.
Mike Burg, an lawyer for the nieces, Nancy and Mary Leprino, mentioned his shoppers are “extraordinarily upset within the verdict” and imagine “the jury obtained it unsuitable.” Burg mentioned they’re contemplating interesting the decision to the next courtroom.
“We imagine the decision sends the unsuitable message: that once you’re a billionaire, you’ll be able to manipulate, breach your fiduciary obligation, rent two of the biggest regulation corporations on the planet” and win the case, Burg advised reporters exterior the courtroom.
The decision follows a nine-day trial by which two of James Leprino’s nieces, Nancy and Mary Leprino, advised jurors that that they had been pushed out of the corporate following a dispute between their father, Mike Leprino, and their uncle in 2014.
James Leprino testified through deposition video Nov. 30. Within the video, he acknowledged feuding along with his brother and telling his nieces that their 17-percent inventory within the multi-billion-dollar firm is value $0. He additionally admitted that he didn’t enable his nieces to mortgage the corporate cash, a chance he granted to his personal daughters and one that may earn them $165 million in curiosity over three many years.
The nieces argued that by rendering their inventory nugatory and prohibiting them from taking advantage of the loans, James Leprino and the corporate he controls price them between $600-900 million. The corporate and its CEO argued that the inventory remains to be extremely precious and the nieces are due to this fact owed nothing.
Leprino Meals, which grew out of a grocery retailer that James and Mike Leprino’s dad and mom operated in Denver, is the biggest maker of mozzarella on the planet and gives cheese for the nation’s largest pizza chains. Its headquarters at 1830 W. thirty eighth Ave. in Sunnyside sits on the identical nook as the previous household retailer.
The defendants — Leprino Meals, James Leprino and his daughters — have been represented by attorneys Michael Hofmann and Kaitlin DeWulf with the native workplace of Bryan Cave, together with Clifford Stricklin, Desi Hamilton and Jared Lax with the Denver workplace of King & Spalding.
This story was reported by our associate BusinessDen.